From cb49a64af753550800d78ee9b1a72c179bd3d63a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Umesh More <73871036+umeshmore45@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 06:07:37 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] fix(patch): prevent git config path errors in patch-commit
 (#10640)

* fix(patch): prevent git config path errors in patch-commit

Replace HOME='' with GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL to bypass user config
without breaking home directory resolution in restricted environments.

Fixes #6537

* fix(patch): prevent git config path errors in patch-commit

Use GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM and GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL to bypass git config
without breaking HOME path resolution in restricted environments.

Fixes #6537
---
 .changeset/fix-patch-commit-home-env.md              | 12 ++++++++++++
 patching/plugin-commands-patching/src/patchCommit.ts | 12 +++++++++---
 2 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/fix-patch-commit-home-env.md

diff --git a/.changeset/fix-patch-commit-home-env.md b/.changeset/fix-patch-commit-home-env.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..51673c4c52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-patch-commit-home-env.md
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+"@pnpm/plugin-commands-patching": patch
+"pnpm": patch
+---
+
+Fixed `pnpm patch-commit` failing with "unable to access '/.config/git/attributes': Permission denied" error in environments where HOME is unset or non-standard (Docker containers, CI systems).
+
+The issue occurred because pnpm was setting `HOME: ''` and `USERPROFILE: ''` to suppress user git configuration when running `git diff`. This caused git to resolve the home directory (`~`) as root (`/`), leading to permission errors when attempting to access `/.config/git/attributes`.
+
+Now uses `GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL: os.devNull` instead, which is git's proper mechanism for bypassing user-level configuration without corrupting the home directory path resolution.
+
+Fixes #6537
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/patching/plugin-commands-patching/src/patchCommit.ts b/patching/plugin-commands-patching/src/patchCommit.ts
index 63ac7c90d9..d1ad2fd8f8 100644
--- a/patching/plugin-commands-patching/src/patchCommit.ts
+++ b/patching/plugin-commands-patching/src/patchCommit.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import fs from 'fs'
+import os from 'os'
 import path from 'path'
 import { docsUrl } from '@pnpm/cli-utils'
 import { type Config, types as allTypes } from '@pnpm/config'
@@ -158,9 +159,14 @@ async function diffFolders (folderA: string, folderB: string): Promise<string> {
         // These variables aim to ignore the global git config so we get predictable output
         // https://git-scm.com/docs/git#Documentation/git.txt-codeGITCONFIGNOSYSTEMcode
         GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM: '1',
-        HOME: '',
-        XDG_CONFIG_HOME: '',
-        USERPROFILE: '',
+        // Redirect the global git config to the null device instead of setting
+        // HOME to an empty string. An empty HOME causes git to resolve '~' as
+        // '/' (root), which triggers a "Permission denied" warning when git
+        // tries to access '/.config/git/attributes', making pnpm throw an
+        // error because any stderr output is treated as a failure.
+        // We do not set XDG_CONFIG_HOME to avoid the same issue: an empty
+        // value would make git resolve paths like /git/config and /git/attributes.
+        GIT_CONFIG_GLOBAL: os.devNull,
         // #endregion
       },
       stripFinalNewline: false,